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Effects of thinning on scatter‐hoarding by rodents in temperate forest
Author(s) -
ZHANG Yifeng,
YU Jing,
SICHILIMA Alfred M.,
WANG Weirui,
LU Jiqi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
integrative zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 1749-4877
DOI - 10.1111/1749-4877.12184
Subject(s) - thinning , seed dispersal , species richness , ecology , hoarding (animal behavior) , forestry , deforestation (computer science) , vegetation (pathology) , habitat , biology , biological dispersal , agroforestry , geography , foraging , medicine , population , demography , pathology , sociology , computer science , programming language
Deforestation and thinning are human activities that can destabilize the forest ecological system and, consequently, impact significantly on habitat and behavior of forest‐dwelling animals. This hypothesis was tested in Yugong in the Mount Taihangshan area by comparing the tracks of tagged seeds of Armeniaca sibirica . in sites of unthinned and thinned forests. Our results showed that: (i) the diversity of vegetation and rodents drastically reduced in sites with thinned forests, compared to unthinned sites; (ii) the amount of both removed and scatter‐hoarded seeds significantly declined in sites with thinned forests, compared with the unthinned sites; (iii) there was no significant difference observed in the distance of seed dispersal between the thinned and unthinned areas; and (iv) the thinning did not show a significant change to the model of cache size. These results suggested that the thinning of forests negatively influenced the species richness and food‐hoarding behavior of rodents. In addition, the results indicated that the weakened scattered‐hoarding might be disadvantageous to seedling recruitment and forest restoration.